Mr. Graham's moment of glory

Humble Beginnings

Once upon a time, there was an annual Fourth of July party in the Stoney Creek cul-de-sac. The festivities included a pie contest, for which I often served as one of the judges. Early on, Mr. Graham would buy a pie at the store, remove the pie from its aluminum home, then transfer the pie to a plate and (jokingly) enter it in the contest. Mr. Graham eventually realized the error of his ways and started baking his own pies.

Fast forward to the fall of 2018, when Mr. Graham entered a pie-making challenge with a friend. Mr. Graham started out making a double-crust blueberry pie. It was okay, but the crust was not flaky and the blueberry filling did not really grab your taste buds. After Mary Alice had a catering gig with the C&O Restaurant, she and Mr. Graham ate leftovers of sweet potatoes and wild blueberries. The seed was planted for a new filling, and Mr. Graham started experimenting with a combination of sweet potatoes and blueberries. A flavor success! Mr. Graham also tinkered with the crust to improve the flakiness.

Some of the experimental pies that paved the road to greatness

The master at work—check out the fancy pastry mat!

   

Mr. Graham's Moment of Glory

Though the annual Fourth of July party is no more, there was a Stoney Creek cul-de-sac gathering back in June of this year, which seemed like a good occasion for an impromptu pie contest for old times' sake. There were seven entries, including Mom's take on my Not Really Key Lime Pie (#3 in the picture below) and Mr. Graham's Sweet Potato-Blueberry Pie, which is just to the left of Mom's pie. 

Every partygoer had a taste of each of the pies, then voted by secret ballot for their favorite. Each vote in favor of Mr. Graham's pie was met with a thunderous cheer from Mr. Graham. When the votes were counted, Mr. Graham's pie emerged the winner, besting my still-not-award-winning pie by a tally of seven to five. Mr. Graham was crowned the Mid-Atlantic Stoney Creek Cul-de-Sac Pie Champion for 2019. Not quite as impressive as being an Olympic ping-pong gold medalist, perhaps, but close and pretty darn good all the same.

Just another day at the office for a pie-making legend

Mary Alice and Mr. Graham kindly provided me with some of the back story and the winning pie recipe, which I finally had a chance to make this past weekend, albeit with a gluten-free crust substituted for Mom's benefit. We invited Mary Alice and Mr. Graham over to try it out, and I'm happy to report that Mr. Graham gave his seal of approval to my version of his award-winning pie.

Rubbing elbows with the Prince of Pie

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Step 3 of the recipe below

Step 5

Step 8

Step 11

The finished product

Mr. Graham's Sweet Potato-Blueberry Pie

Adapted from Mr. Graham (who adapted the pie recipe from Divas Can Cook) and The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook (2014) by America’s Test Kitchen via NPR (for the crust)

Time: It took 15 minutes to make the crust and get it in the fridge to rest; from there, it took about 2 hours to make the pie.

You have several options for the crust other than the gluten-free one set out below. The original recipe Mr. Graham adapted his pie from uses an all-shortening crust; you can view that recipe here. If you want to do an all-butter pie crust using all-purpose flour, I highly recommend J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's Easy Pie Dough recipe on Serious Eats. Also check out Lopez-Alt's gallery of photos showing how to make the pie crust step-by-step; even if you go with one of the other crusts, the pictures will still be useful, especially the ones showing how to get the crust into the pie plate and flute the edges.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust
113 grams (1 stick/8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
37 grams (2½ tablespoons) cold water
23 grams (1½ tablespoons) plain whole-milk yogurt or sour cream
7 grams (1½ teaspoons) rice vinegar
185 grams (1½ cups) UaKS Gluten-Free Flour Blend or other commercial or homemade gluten-free flour blend
6 grams (1½ teaspoons) white sugar
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

Sweet Potato-Blueberry Filling
3 medium sweet potatoes, washed well but unpeeled
113 grams (1 stick/8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
120 grams (½ cup) evaporated milk
2 large eggs (~57 grams each still in the shell)
1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
100 grams (½ cup) white sugar
100 grams (½ cup) brown sugar
8 grams (1 tablespoon) Thai glutinous white rice flour, or tapioca flour/starch, or gluten-free flour blend
½ teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly ground
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
a pinch of salt
~140 grams (~1¼ cups) frozen blueberries

    1. Make the pie dough: Cut the butter into ¼-inch pieces, then stick them in the freezer for 10 minutes.
    2. Meanwhile, in a very small bowl, whisk together the cold water, yogurt or sour cream, and vinegar. Park the bowl in the fridge while the butter is freezing.
    3. Place the gluten-free flour blend, sugar, salt, and xanthan gum in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal "s" blade. Process for 5 seconds. Scatter the frozen butter pieces evenly over the flour mixture (see the photo above). Pulse until the butter is the size of large peas, about 8 one-second pulses.
    4. Spoon half of the yogurt mixture (~2 tablespoons) over the flour mixture; mix in with 3 one-second pulses. Scrape in the remaining yogurt mixture, then process just until clumps form, about 6–8 one-second pulses.
    5. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using your hands, gather it into a cohesive ball. Flatten into a 5-inch disk (see photo above). Wrap the disk in plastic cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (You can make the dough ahead and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days.)
    6. Roast the sweet potatoes: While the dough is resting, place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes on a plate in the microwave and nuke on high power for 4 minutes. Rotate the plate 90 degrees, then zap on high power for 4 minutes more. Transfer the potatoes to a foil-lined baking sheet, and roast until a skewer or thin knife slips through each potato with no resistance, about 15–20 minutes (watch carefully so the flesh doesn't liquefy completely during roasting). Set aside until cool enough to peel.
    7. Form the pie crust: Once the dough has chilled in the fridge for at least 1 hour, let it sit out on your work surface to soften slightly, about 15 minutes. Unwrap the disk, but leave it on the plastic wrap. Cover with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Remove the top sheet of plastic. Place a 9-inch pie plate on top of the dough, then invert gently. Ease the dough into the pie plate, using one hand to lift the plastic wrap off the dough while using the other hand to press the dough into the pie plate. (Keep the plastic wrap to use in the next step.)
    8. Using clean kitchen shears or sharp scissors, trim the excess dough so that it overhangs the edge by ½ inch all around. You can use the trimmed pieces to patch any cracks or fill in around the edge where needed. Tuck the overhanging dough under itself all the way around the pie, so that it rests on the lip of the pie plate, flush with the edge. Using the index finger of one hand and the thumb and forefinger of the other, flute the edges of the pie crust all the way around (see photo above and steps 18 to 21 in Lopez-Alt's gallery of photos). Cover the dough loosely with the reserved plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
    9. Blind-bake the pie crust: With the oven still at 375 degrees, bake the crust until light brown in color (don't overdo it), about 20 minutes. Transfer the pie plate to a wire rack. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees.
    10. Make the filling: While the pie crust is blind-baking, peel the warm sweet potatoes. Weigh 500 grams (a little over 2 cups) of sweet potatoes into the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a hand mixer (or a whisk, if you're wanting a workout). Beat the sweet potatoes on medium or medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Pour in the melted butter, and mix until combined. Add the milk, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the sugars, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, and mix on low speed until smooth.
    11. Add just enough frozen blueberries to cover the bottom of the still-warm, partially baked pie crust in a single layer (see photo above). Scrape the filling gently over the blueberries; the crust should be pretty full.
    12. Bake the pie: Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. If the edges of the pie are browning quickly, tent the pie very loosely with a large square of aluminum foil. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and continue baking until the filling is pulling away from, and lightly cracked around, the edges, and a small-ish circle in the center of the pie wiggles slightly when jiggled, about 20–25 minutes (but start checking after 15 minutes). Transfer the pie back to the wire rack, and let cool at least until the filling is completely set, about 2 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.